Seen the recent Garmin commercial of the guy that falls in love with his Garmin. He must have some special number or something. Why do companies have email addresses for support, sales etc and then they don't respond. The latest is CoPilot by ALK that just announced a BB product. Seems like a funny way to do business to me.

Yeah some Mod will probably ban me or move this to the rants and raves forum.

Don't worry SD, you the GPS guru. You are right though. When you depersonalize your supportive structure, it does not bode well with your consumers. I would summize this is financially driven. Have the same issue with PC games. You check the FAQ's 1st to see if your question can be answered that way. Then you pose an email question to their "support." Next you receive a confirmation email that they are in receipt of your email and will work on it within "x" (x being days, hours etc). Usually I receive a response that has nothing to do with my question. I find most of my support at places like this, the forum. I find it to be a great repository of oodles of info. Limitations of the support structure is that they have a limited number of individuals who can help. The forum has no such limitation. That's why when I have a question about a particular product, I look for the forum associated with it for my gestalt.

FWIW, I communicate regularly with Garmin via e-mail and while it takes them a day or two to respond, they always do. My understanding is that my experience is not normal, as other people have said the same thing that you have.

I'll add this... I've been a Garmin customer for years. They make the best navigation devices available (IMHO). They do not have the best support available, but there are usually a wealth of resources on the Internet to get your questions answered. So, if you can let it go that the Garmin Support folks are not great, but accept that there are plenty of resources to get the information you require, then I think you might like to reconsider Garmin.

The reason why I'm bothering to write this at all right now is because I'm interested in some opinions. As far as I can tell so far, Garmin has the only on-board GPS software solution available for the 8800. What I mean is that Garmin's program is available on a MicroSD chip, so that no Internet connection is required, and there is no latency associated with this product. At least, that's my hope! Can anyone comment on experiences you might have with the microSD-based solution from Garmin?

I'll add this... I've been a Garmin customer for years. They make the best navigation devices available (IMHO). They do not have the best support available, but there are usually a wealth of resources on the Internet to get your questions answered. So, if you can let it go that the Garmin Support folks are not great, but accept that there are plenty of resources to get the information you require, then I think you might like to reconsider Garmin.

The reason why I'm bothering to write this at all right now is because I'm interested in some opinions. As far as I can tell so far, Garmin has the only on-board GPS software solution available for the 8800. What I mean is that Garmin's program is available on a MicroSD chip, so that no Internet connection is required, and there is no latency associated with this product. At least, that's my hope! Can anyone comment on experiences you might have with the microSD-based solution from Garmin?

Garmin's site is really vague on exactly what you need to use their solution. If someone can figure out exactly what SKU I need to order, I'm happy to give it a try.

I'll add this... I've been a Garmin customer for years. They make the best navigation devices available (IMHO). They do not have the best support available, but there are usually a wealth of resources on the Internet to get your questions answered. So, if you can let it go that the Garmin Support folks are not great, but accept that there are plenty of resources to get the information you require, then I think you might like to reconsider Garmin.

The reason why I'm bothering to write this at all right now is because I'm interested in some opinions. As far as I can tell so far, Garmin has the only on-board GPS software solution available for the 8800. What I mean is that Garmin's program is available on a MicroSD chip, so that no Internet connection is required, and there is no latency associated with this product. At least, that's my hope! Can anyone comment on experiences you might have with the microSD-based solution from Garmin?

Exactly my point - show me where I can get this product and that it even exists. If they won't communicate with one that has been focused on GPS then who do they talk too. The girl down the street selling Girl Scout cookies?

I wrote Garmin last night and they responded this morning. Not a lot of information, but here are the highlights:

1. The product is similar to Telenav. Garmin Mobile requires a subscription for the BB version and it does not use the MicroSD slot. The maps are downloaded, so the Garmin Mobile XT is not supported on BB.

2. They do not know if it supports the 8800, but they offered to sign me up if I wanted to try it.

I'll do a little hunting and see if I can track down some more specs on Option II. The downside of Garmin is that the best place to find the answer is through a dealer here in the U.S., since Garmin is a European company, and not all that responsive. The upside is that if this works with the 8800, it would be a fantastic solution!

I'll do a little hunting and see if I can track down some more specs on Option II. The downside of Garmin is that the best place to find the answer is through a dealer here in the U.S., since Garmin is a European company, and not all that responsive. The upside is that if this works with the 8800, it would be a fantastic solution!

Garmin is a US company based in Olathe, KS, so they can't use that excuse.

Garmin has already told me that the memory card does not work with BB, as I wrote in the message right before yours.

Well, sadly...Mobile XT is only for Windows Mobile. I would have been very excited to have a solution that is based on an on-board memory chip rather than relying on my cell signal to get the maps... Bummer.